V. OF A DYING CILIUM. 



THE cessation of vital movements may be studied in many 

 organisms, and in some of the individual elementary parts 

 or cells of some, under high magnifying powers. The so- 

 called pus and mucus corpuscles, and the white blood 

 corpuscles, are good objects for this purpose. When once 

 death has occurred the particular mass or molecule of 

 living matter never again lives. It is, however, very diffi- 

 cult to adequately explain what we mean by death; and 

 many tissues which were at the time unquestionably non- 

 living have nevertheless been said to be capable of dying, 

 and to have died. It seems to me that the term death 

 ought to be restricted to the cessation of vital changes in 

 living matter. An organism may certainly die as a whole, 

 although much of the bioplasm of its body may remain 

 alive long after its death has taken place. Some of the 

 bioplasm of our bodies may live and even grow for some 

 time after we are dead. The particular living bioplasm 

 directly influenced by us may cease to exist first, and its 

 death be followed after an interval by that of the bioplasm 

 of certain of the tissues of the body. 



The consideration of the subject of death is much 

 complicated by the circumstance that there is often much 

 difficulty in deciding positively whether certain observed 

 movements are really vital movements, or are only an 



